Much to Celebrate
Hello Friends! You are receiving this update in the middle of the high Holy Days of the Jewish Calendar. Many Israelis observe by taking time to fast, repent, and then celebrate God’s past and future deliverance and presence among us.
We have had a very busy summer and autumn so far! In July, Daniela was honored to sing the U.S. National Anthem for the Embassy Independence Day celebration in front of the Israeli Prime Minister, the Israeli President, and the U.S Ambassador. It was truly a prophetic moment to be singing over heads of state and dignitaries in Jerusalem!
In August, our congregation put on a vacation Bible School – King’s Adventures Cruise. We had children come from all over the central Israel area, some that had never been in a believing congregation in their lives. We presented the gospel, led in worship, and had a really good time! We’ve seen some of the families now join our congregation weekly.
At the end of August, we took our annual trip back to the US. We were honored to share about the heart of the Father for Israel and for us personally at several different churches, including our home church, where God moved wonderfully. We also got to officiate a wedding of some dear friends, and spent some time at a worship conference in northern Dallas, before heading back to Israel.
Conferences
In late September, we went to Heidelberg, Germany, where we ministered in worship at a conference. We saw God move powerfully, not only in the lives of those attending, but in our lives as well.
Last week, I (Matthew) had the opportunity to play piano for Joshua Aaron, a popular Messianic songwriter and worship leader, at the Feast of Tabernacles Conference. This is an annual conference where thousands of people from all over the world come to celebrate what God is doing in Israel!
For now, conference season is over and one thing we are looking forward to in this season is Alpha Course. Our congregation is hosting and Alpha Course as a way to introduce believers and unbelievers to the faith. Please pray that he would meet us with real “God encounters” during this time.
Baby on the Way
Before we traveled to the US, we were able to move into a slightly bigger apartment with a third bedroom. This is important for us, because as it turns out, we are expecting our second child! The new baby should be born the middle of March 2023. Please pray for us as we are having a little trouble with our health insurance covering the pregnancy and delivery.
We also enjoyed a month where Daniela’s mother got to stay with us in Israel. She helped with our worship team and our son Alon while we were ministering in different conferences and events.
Sharing our Struggles
We often share about God’s blessing on our lives, and we believe it’s important to remain thankful and give testimony to what God is doing. However, we also want to remain transparent about our struggles. With our new baby coming, our new apartment, some recent repairs for our car, and Hebrew classes, our expenses in the past months have skyrocketed. Obviously, we do not say these things to manipulate people to give. We just believe it is good that we share these things with you, our family, so you can agree with us in prayer and share in our triumph when God meets these needs!
Worship Album Update
Thank you for continued prayer on our worship album. We are so close! All we need to record now is vocals and then is it all downhill until the end. Please continue to pray this through, as it is very close to our heart to finish this project.
